Mulgrew Lies Distort History of UFT Compliance with Bogus Test Scores Under BloomKlein

UFT ad congratulating BloomKlein on test scores (Ed Notes)

Weingarten Gives Credence to the BloomKlein Testing Myth... Ed Notes, June 28, 2008

Mulgrew comments on 2015 test score gains:

During the Bloomberg years, state and city test scores exploded, to the point that in 2009 nearly 70 percent of city elementary and middle school students were supposedly proficient in reading, and more than 80 percent were proficient in math – results that Bloomberg and his allies in the “school reform” gang could not stop boasting about.

The UFT and experts warned that these results were smoke and mirrors,"

Really?  remember Randi in 2007 - we all suspected it was smoke and mirrors - but not the UFT. As Mulgrew tries to purge UFT history of its compliance and celebration over the bogus BloomKlein test scores, Ed Notes was on the case challenging the UFT reaction. By the way, the UFT full-page ad in the NY Times is no longer on the UFT site - but luckily I posted it on Ed Notes (The UFT Survey Says...) on June 28, 2008.

This was shortly before Randi took over the AFT and I commented in my June 2008 post:

Expect more of this obfuscation on the national level - she will use carefully parsed language to give the impression she agrees with you but then do something to totally contradict herself. Watch the role she plays and what she ultimately accepts when NCLB gets discussed again. As long-time Randi watchers, the Ed Notes crew can pretty much write the speech now.

Here is what Randi was saying at the time:

Even Randi Weingarten, the president of the teachers’ union, lavished praise on the mayor and his chancellor. “What we’ve seen in the last seven years is a cohesion and a stability and resources that we did not have beforehand,” she said... 
"This is a day to celebrate; for kids and teachers in particular, but also for all those who played a supporting role, including parents, administrators, Chancellor Klein and Mayor Bloomberg. This dramatic increase in math scores is further evidence of the importance of quality teachers being able to use a strong, consistent curriculum," said UFT President Randi Weingarten... Randi's comments after inflated test results released in 2007

In 2008 Randi actually took out a full page ad in the NYT, hailing the test score gains.  In a full page ad in Thursday’s New York Times, Weingarten’s United Federation of Teachers congratulated students on their progress ...

http://nypost.com/2008/06/30/the-uft-vs-success/

Even as late as 2009 when the test score inflation was obvious to nearly everyone, she still believed in it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/nyregion/02math.html?pagewanted=all 

 The UFT web site has been purged of Randi's comments but they appear in the official press release by the DOE:

http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c0935b9a57bb4ef3daf2f1c701c789a0/index.jsp?pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=1194&doc_name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fom%2Fhtml%2F2007a%2Fpr187-07.html&cc=unused1978&rc=1194&ndi=1


Diane Ravitch was skeptical at the time in this post on nycpublic school parents blog:

I suggest that we wait patiently to see whether the recent gains on the state tests are reflected on the national tests when the results are posted in November 2007. In the meanwhile, I suggest that Governor Spitzer think seriously about creating an independent agency to administer tests and report on test results, one staffed by top-notch psychometricians who take neither credit nor blame for test results in the state and local districts.

Diane Ravitch , http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2007/06/diance-ravitch-reflections-on-math.html

 

 Here are excerpts of the Ed Notes posts at the time for those who don't click on links:
====

The UFT Survey Says...

When Joel Klein was appointed as Chancellor and even though he had zero ed background, the UFT cheered instead of taking a stand and calling on the state Ed department not to grant a waiver (something ed notes, by the way, called on them to do.)

In the early years of BloomKlein, when it was clear these people had no clue about education, many of us called on the UFT to hold a vote of "no confidence" in Joel Klein as Chancellor. Nadaa!

The UFT wanted to continue to play nice. Now, with the sun about to set on BloomKlein, the UFT does a survey. Jeez!

The survey on Joel Klein and the Tweedles is out and guess what? Teachers are unhappy with the Klein administration.

I'm pretty disappointed about the only 80-something percent, as I thought it would be in the mid-90's, demonsrating that the CEO of the DOE has no support, a big would be a big no-no in the corporate world the Tweedles want to play in. Still. Klein's numbers rival George Bush's. How about Bush for next Chancellor? He was the "education" president?

The UFT took out a full-page ad in the Times (see below). But so what? Does the public really care if teachers are unhappy? They think it is a good thing and a sign Klein is doing a good job.

The UFT might as well dig a hole and throw the money in. The money wasted on PR. There will be a couple of short articles in the press for a day or two and it will all be forgotten. Jeez!
======

Weingarten Gives Credence to the BloomKlein Testing Myth

12PM UPDATE, June 28, 2008

Ed Notes has been pointing out for over 10 years that the UFT/AFT is for the testing craze and it extends back to Al Shanker's jumping on board the Nation At Risk Report in 1983. That is why they speak empty words about NCLB which they supported. Ed Notes brought resolutions to the Delegate Assembly and wrote extensively on this issue from 1996 on. At one DA I spoke about the evisceration of the curriculum in elementary schools, especially in science and social studies and the place broke into applause - and that was a year or more (my memory sucks) before BloomKlein came on the scene.From the June 27 NY Times article on the teacher surveys:

Ms. Weingarten conceded that it had been “a good year in terms of academic success for kids.” Indeed, on Monday, she stood by the chancellor’s side to celebrate the striking gains the city’s students had posted on state math and reading exams. But on Thursday, Ms. Weingarten used the survey to suggest that climbing test scores were not enough. “Let’s focus on educating the whole child, not simply on test results,” she said.

Was Weingarten focused on educating the whole child when she supported and lobbied for a merit pay plan than does the exact opposite by funneling money to teachers based on test scores?

You do see the game she plays. Say one thing and do another. Stand next to Klein when he gets the bogus Broad prize or brags about phony test scores and try to claim some credit, but then turn around the next minute and say, "oh my, all those tests." Weingarten says one thing to teachers and parents - "too much testing, too much time practicing, it is the curriculum, "etc. but stands next to Klein to help legitimize the sham.

It's all about obfuscating the issues to confuse people.

Call this playing both sides against the middle - which is where the interests of teachers who see first hand the testing sham that is going on. Why didn't the UFT survey ask whether teachers believed the test scores were real? Did they think it was easy? Relaxed rubrics? Full-time practice that could pump up scores? How about giving a random sampling surprise test the 2nd week of September to check on what was retained?

Expect more of this obfuscation on the national level - she will use carefully parsed language to give the impression she agrees with you but then do something to totally contradict herself. Watch the role she plays and what she ultimately accepts when NCLB gets discussed again. As long-time Randi watchers, the Ed Notes crew can pretty much write the speech now.

What will never take place is a democratic discussion in any official body of the UFT as to what the position of the UFT/AFT should be.

 ===

Where are the Unity slugs telling me to forget the past?At that time Mulgrew was the clear heir apparent so don't say he is not Randi.

CAPE: Mayoral Control is Governance By Lawlessness… It is Time to Put an End to the Bloomberg-Klein Ed Deform Agenda!

Mayoral Control is absolute power that corrupts absolutely. It is a license to push destructive and discriminatory policies touted by this Mayor and Chancellor, which will be rubberstamped by a PEP whose majority is selected by the Mayor himself and given the directive to "serve at his pleasure". 
---Concerned Advocates for Public Education

PS 15 in Red Hook was the school State Ed Commissioner Steiner ruled against when he ruled against the expansion of Girls Prep. Here our pals at CAPE respond. I'm cross posting.


Mayoral Control is Governance By Lawlessness… It is Time to Put an End to the Bloomberg-Klein Ed Deform Agenda!
 

The PS 188/94 and PS 15 recent appeals to the State Education Commissioner prove once again that Mayoral Control amounts to nothing more than governance by lawsuit, a construct where parents, students, and teachers will find themselves at a great disadvantage, and will almost always lose, when seeking what is best for the public education of our youth.

Commissioner David Steiner’s decisions in both cases, the Department of Education’s responses in both cases, and the outrageous actions of Klein evoking ‘emergency powers’ in the one of Steiner's findings set dangerous and destructive precedents for our schools and students when it comes to school and space utilization and allocation.

As a result of Steiner’s decision and the responses and actions of the DOE:

· Space allocations are not required for related services for special needs students or for ELL students.
· Stairwells and Hallways are perfectly acceptable spaces for students to receive educational services.
· Negative impacts on existing public school students, specifically removing space for enrichment, intervention, and other mandated and non-mandated services to benefit a charter school, is perfectly acceptable.
· Educational Impact statements do not have to be provided to parents in paper form or through the mail. Notification to families and communities need only be made through the internet or through the school’s principal with no additional resources provided by the DOE.
· Educational impact statements do not have to specifically identify the impacts or losses on students in terms of space or programming due to a co-location.
· Educational impact statements do not have to show how space will be allocated; a space plan can be completed after the co-location is approved.
· Providing opportunities for hearings and public input where no one is actually heard or considered meets the standard of the law.
· When a legal decision is made that favors parents, students, and teachers, the DOE will find a way to get around it.

Mayoral Control is absolute power that corrupts absolutely. It is a license to push destructive and discriminatory policies touted by this Mayor and Chancellor, which will be rubberstamped by a PEP whose majority is selected by the Mayor himself and given the directive to "serve at his pleasure". When in the rare case, the Administration is legally challenged on a issue, there is a loophole to declare emergencies in order to override whatever decision displeases the Chancellor. This is not putting Children First, as their self-heralded initiative claims, this is putting ideology first, an ideology rooted in free-market principles that further reinforce the roles of privilege and subordination in our country and pervert our public education system, the pillar of our democracy. Local and State legislators must take action to end this corrupt governance system and put legislation in place and advocate for policies that protect public schools and our neediest and most vulnerable children.

Join Grassroots Education Movement in the Struggle to Protect and Preserve Public Education! Check in this week for further video and analysis regarding the DOE’s outrageous actions and claims regarding co-locations @ ednotesonline.blogspot.com, capeducation@blogspot.com and grassrootseducationmovement@blogspot.com

Want to create a community-based advocacy group in your school? Contact capeducation@gmail.com for an advocacy toolkit and information on GEM’s school-based organizing committee.

Together we can stop the dysfunctional and discriminatory education policies of Bloomberg and Klein!

Teachers at PS 193 Fight Budget Cuts in a Special Way

Teachers at PS 193 in Brooklyn decided to rewrite the lyrics to a well-known song from Grease. They performed it on the morning of June 23, 2010 in front of the school. Some arriving parents and students got a great kick out of seeing their teachers fighting for them. Ed Notes was there to cover.




WANT TO DO A PERFORMANCE AT YOUR SCHOOL? 
CONTACT ED NOTES FOR VIDEO COVERAGE

Leonie Haimson on Why Class Size Matters

How dare she? Leonie Haimson calls for money used to build and support empty prisons to be shifted to building schools. Outrageous. Doesn't she know that by cutting education severely we can assure that these prisons will be filled eventually?

And then she has the nerve to talk about rising birth rates and how that will force a demand for new space for schools,mentioning along the way that BloomKlein have ignored this fact or shunned any responsibility for not addressing the issue. Doesn't she know "the plan" is to guarantee a drop in the birth rate by creating a massive multi- decade long depression?

What a nerve she has!

Jugheads like Rick Hesse and his ilk disparaged class size as a solution to fixing schools at the Manhattan Institute luncheon for Diane Ravitch's book a few weeks ago. Leonie Haimson was in the audience and I wanted to go up and grab the mic from him and turn it over to her. Here is part one of her excellent presentation at the Class Size Matters parent workshop this past Saturday, which included workshops for parents to fight back against the BloomKlein machine and an amazing panel session with charter school parents, including the former Moaning Mona Davids who if she keeps up these good deeds will be renamed the Magnificent Mona. But more of that video later.


NYC City Councilman Robert Jackson and State Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan were in attendance. See below the video for Leonie's report of the event.


Part 1




Part 2

Our parent conference on Saturday was terrific. Thanks to those of you who came. And thanks to Lisa Donlan of D1, Khem Irby of D 13, Monica Major of D 11, and Shino Tanikawa of D2, who helped put it together.

Cathy Nolan, chair of the Assembly Education committee, was our surprise guest in the morning and spoke briefly about school governance, the importance of parent involvement, and the state budget crunch. Robert Jackson, Chair of the City Council Education committee, talked about improving the capital plan to relieve overcrowding and reduce class size. All the panels and workshops were terrific.

The afternoon panel on building bridges with charter parents, with Mona Davids of the NY Charter Parents Association, Leslie-Ann Byfield, Achievement First charter school parent, Khem Irby of CEC District 13 and Dianne Johnson of CEC District 5, was especially moving and strong. I hope to have video of it soon, as we had two filmmakers in the audience.

Some of the presentations are available online, linked to from the agenda here; our consensus framework of shared principles with charter parents is here and below. The press release about our shared principles is here. My presentation on class size, school overcrowding and what can be done is here.

Though Chancellor Klein and the DOE would like to pit parent against parent, we find have much in common with charter school parents, who want the same things for their children’s schools that all parents do: a quality education with small classes and experienced teachers, more transparency and accountability, and real parent input in decision-making.

• Speaking of accountability, tomorrow, Monday April 14, at 9:30 AM, legal arguments will be held in our class size lawsuit against DOE’s failure to comply with state law before Justice John Barone, at Bronx County Courthouse; (Grand Concourse and 161st Street).

• Tuesday April 13 at 7 PM, I will be speaking at a community forum about the US Dept. of Education’s flawed priorities and their misguided blueprint for the reauthorization of NCLB, which if enacted would be devastating for NYC schools. The main speaker is Jo Comerford, Executive Director of National Priorities Project. (For a flyer, click here.)

The consensus document which we developed with the help of the NY Charter Parents Association, as well as other charter and district parents is below. If you have comments, are willing to sign onto it as is, please send me your name, school, and district, or other affiliations if any at classsizematters@gmail.com

BloomKlein's Worst Nightmare: PS 197 Protests Democracy Prep Charter Invasion

PS 197 chapter leader and GEMer Antoine Bogard leads the protest at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLmGzqQUeDE

Video by Angel Gonzalez (does that guy EVER rest?), who put up this post on you tube:

July 22, 2009 - Harlem Parents, Teachers & Community protested the further privatization of PS 197 now with the Democracy Prep Charter. Already the Harlem Children's Zone Charter operates their afterschool program. GEM, the Grassroots Education Movement in Defense of Public Education, participated. The UFT-AFT leadership has supported privatization with charter schools and thus the union-busting that comes with it! Fight this privatization pushed by the DOE & the UFT!

Note the number of Blacks and Latins in this protest. That is why I said this type of activity is BloomKlein's worst nightmare.

The Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) in alliance with various groups around the city, have been engaging in these type of actions over the past few months since GEM was founded less than 5 months ago (not too shabby).

Until recently, BloomKlein have been staking out the high ground by using the language of civil rights to give the impression that the only people who opposed them were middle and upper class whites who wanted to deny them the control of the schools they needed to meet the needs of the Black and Latin community.

They even hired Al Sharpton to stand with them. But as the black community has begun to rise up in Harlem and other areas of the city, note how Sharpton has shrunk back, even endorsing Thompson for mayor against his buddy Bloomberg. (We think Mike will understand and still funnel the bucks over to Al as he will be of some use in the future after the election.)

When confronted by the possibility that groups led by Sam Anderson and Jitu Weusi and Councilman Charles Barron were going to picket the fancy event he up on with the Educational Equality Project a few months ago, he got all 'fraidy cat and offered Barron a chance to speak to avoid the possible press coverage of black people picketing his event.

See Barron's slap down of BloomKlein and Sharpton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntbFiTXD4Og

[Barron video removed to speed up loading. Go directly to You tube to view]

Enjoy the next 4 years of dictatorial control Mike and Joel. Your time is coming.

THE BUSINESS OF EDUCATION: TEACHERS MISSING AT THE TOP

At City Limits

The New York City public school system has always been led by teachers. Until the chancellorship of Joel I. Klein.

A few subheadings:

• Product over process- check
• Teaching and learning downgraded- check
• 'Contempt for the profession'- check
• But businesses have gone bust- double check

An excellent article despite the numerous quotes from the ultimate hypocrite and intellectually dishonest UFT VP Leo Casey, who just might check out his boss' comments praising Bloomberg and mayoral control and giving them credit for the rise in test scores.

That former DOE cabinet member who is afraid of personal and professional retribution? I'll bet my union COPE contributions it is Carmen Farina, also one of the most hypocritical people on earth for remaining silent. A supposedly true educator (her silence weakens that argument), she was told by the Kleinites she didn't have the skill set for the job of Deputy Chancellor (they are on their 6th one).

Fear and Loathing in the NYC School System
The article ends with this Editor's Note:

In preparing this article, City Limits spoke with former and current DOE staffers and cabinet members, former and current school principals, academics, and critics on the left and right of the political spectrum, nearly all of whom requested anonymity out of concern for possible detrimental consequences for speaking candidly on the record on a sensitive issue. “The incredible concentration of political and financial power leaves no room f or dissent or difference,” said one person.

Many expressed worry that their schools might suffer or their programs might be jeopardized, given the depth and reach of Bloomberg-funded civic and philanthropic projects citywide. The mayor’s broad and deep connections across political, financial, social and philanthropic networks limit comments to those kept off the record – and, critics say, strongly influence largely favorable coverage in the mainstream media.

The DOE, despite prior verbal agreement to review and consider questions related to this article, declined comment, and would not address the near-universal desire for anonymity.

Will Bloomberg dump Joel Klein?

Is the question NY Magazine's Intelligencer asks. There is an attempt at analysis in terms of the UFT:

....the problem for Klein is not so much in the data (though critics have accused him of juicing the numbers) but himself. This is a big problem for Bloomberg’s dreams of a third term as “education mayor.” He can’t pay off the United Federation of Teachers, which sat on the sidelines last election, with a better contract this time. “If the UFT decides, based on Klein, to oppose Bloomberg, you’re talking about a lot of troops on the ground,” says labor activist Jonathan Tasini. Knowing this, the union is said to be pushing the mayor to sacrifice Klein. While lawmakers have piled on the chancellor, UFT head Randi Weingarten has restrained her attacks in recent weeks, stirring speculation of a pact with Bloomberg. Weingarten answers gamely: “I’ve found the mayor easier to deal with and more responsive than the chancellor.”
Walcott says, “The mayor is not one to make deals for anything that sacrifices individuals.” But on the question of Klein’s fate,

There's a lot of meat in this section to analyze. The UFT tries to separate Klein and Bloomberg in teachers' minds. This is a political ploy designed to make it seem this struggle is just about individuals and not a massive corporate attack on schools. Why? Because the UFT is aligned with the corporations and does anything it can to divert the members into focusing on Klein as the problem, as if Washington DC, Baltimore, Chicago, and New Orleans didn't exist as part of the fabric of the reform movement. Remember, Randi gave her blessing to Arne Duncan as Ed Secretary when he is, supposedly, just a more likeable version of Klein. And a better rebounder.

Klein is irrelevant and all attempt to talk about how he is disliked is a smoke screen. So if Klein does go they can use it to claim victory and slide by their tacit support of Bloomberg's third term - see we supported Bloomberg 3rd term, a fait accompli – and got this massive victory in getting rid of Klein.

Total distractive bullcrap.

Michael Fiorillo added this comment on ICE-mail:

Somewhat interesting to see, although one reaction of mine is,

"(If we) Meet the new boss,
(He'll be) Same as the old boss."

Two other reactions:

- Everyone, Randi included, continues with this good cop/bad cop thing with Klein and Bloomberg, when the transparent reality is that Klein is Bloomberg. They may disagree on tactics, and Bloomberg may throw Klein overboard in his own political self-interest, but they share the same worldview about education, as will Klein's (hypothetical) successor.

- On a deeper level, the piece shows the willful naivete/stupidity of the mainstream press with a statement such as, "Both he (Klein) and Bloomberg are... corporate minded,and distrustful of ideology." That's a hot one, since to be "corporate-minded" is by definition ideological: axiomatically anti-labor, obsessed with control over "production" and the pursuit of narrow interests.

How much more ideological can you get?

Best,
Michael Fiorillo

The Execrable Richard Lee Colvin...

...Feels Urban Kids Don't Deserve to Ride in a Mercedes

Leonie Haimson on the NYC Education News listserve:

See letters below by Jane Hirschmann and David Bloomfield in response to an execrable column in EdWeek last month, in which Gina Burkhardt and Richard Lee Colvin of the Hechinger Center (which is supposed to support balanced journalism on education issues) wrote the following tripe, in sympathy with Joel Klein’s supposed difficulty to tell his side of the story in the media about his incredible successes in our schools.

Seeing Covin's name reminded me of my encounter with him. Richard Lee Colvin is an execrable something or other (there's a better word.) I knew nothing about him at the time but this confirms it. He practically bit my head off (did I detect just a bit of arrogance and condescension?) at the AERA conference last March when he was on a panel with Rotherham, Russo, and the NY Times Jenny Medina (some balance) on journalism and education. (Medina responded to my question about why the voices of classroom teachers are rarely heard in school reform issues by saying they are afraid to talk publicly.)

I dared to suggest that kids in the cities deserved the same class size as kids in the suburbs (I believe Eduwonkette was there too for part of it) And Colvin got real hot and responded that not everyone can ride in a Mercedes – a Pontiac will still get you to your destination (maybe he should have used a different car since it will be defunct any minute.)

Not when the car for urban kids is packed to overflowing while the Mercedes is half empty.

Here's an excerpt from the March 30, '08 post on Ed Notes.

AERAPLANING - Don' Need No Stinkin' Research

...to tell me lower class sizes benefit kids.

I bit the bullet and headed for AERA for the entire day, carrying the 500 page AERA Kahlenberg's "Tough Liberal" and Podair's book on the '68 strike to entertain myself between workshops. As a quasi educator/blogger/reporter/ed commentator I was interested in this mouthful: Disseminating Education Research Through Electronic Media: Advice from E-Journalists.

I was interested in raising some issues related to the coverage of events in NYC, especially by the NY Times which is viewed by so many as biased for BloomKlein but wasn't sure how to raise it. I've actually seen a slightly more nuanced tone in Medina's reporting but there's so much the Times leaves uncovered. I was surprised when she said there were 11 education reporters at the Times.

I wanted to get a few points in regarding the absence of the classroom teacher voice and how class size is addressed in terms of research.

So I made the statement about not needing stinkin' research in the context of the argument the anti-class size reduction people make that we can't lower class size until we have a quality teacher available and that resources would be better spent in recruiting and training better teachers. That reporters repeat that all the time. Less kids = lift all teachers quality is so obvious.

I said, how come the same questions are not raised about the medical field: we don't refuse to put more doctors and nurses in hospitals because some of them will not be high quality. (Did you know how many practicing doctors have not passed their certification boards?) The legal field – do we ban the guys who can't run fast enough to catch up to the ambulance? The financial field? Judges? Politicians? The ones who have the most number of affairs are the lowest quality. Or the highest. Or better yet, take NYC education journalists. Do you see a difference in quality? If you can't keep up with Elizabeth Green, you can't write a story.

Of course this comparison was totally ignored. This is about education, not the rest of the world.

How come the focus on teacher quality to the exclusion of other areas of society? Actually, I got a lot of the answers at Lois Weiner's session on Saturday about the world-wide neo-liberal attack on teachers and their unions (see Lois at the April 15 Teachers Unite forum) but will post on that soon.

What ed journalists do is narrow-casting. Like there was a UFT/coalition rally to restore budget cuts while down the street the fed was coming up with $200 billion and no one made the ironic connection.

Or report that class size research is inconclusive and ignore the fact that parents spend $30,000 for private school and parents in rich areas like Scarsdale pay so much for small class sizes.

I got a rather heated response from Richard Colvin (did I detect a note of hostility when I ran into him in the press room later?), who said just because people in Scarsdale drive a Mercedes, it doesn't mean we all have to when cheaper alternatives are available - that the best uses of resources in resource-starved urban schools may not be to reduce class size. He didn't quite say that the better use was to recruit quality teachers, but he may have been thinking it.

I didn't get a chance to say it but I guess urban kids never get to ride in the Mercedes unless they do the drug thing. What I would have said: How about giving kids in a few places the Mercedes just to see if it works. Like, instead of closing down one high school and loading it up with multiple small schools (sure, that's certainly more cost effective), try doubling the staff for a few years and see what impact that had. Why don't class size researchers suggest that as a test? Or ed reporters? Like I said, narrow casting.

Here are the letters of objection to the outrageous claim that BloomKlein have been unfairly treated by the press.

Jane Hirschmann

To the Editor:

We are shocked that Gina Burkhardt, the president of Learning Point Associates, and Richard Lee Colvin, the director of the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media (an organization whose mission is “to promote fair, accurate, and insightful coverage of education”), would encourage a journalistic approach to education reporting that fosters one-sided, and no doubt self-congratulatory, talking points ("Telling the Story of School Reform," Commentary, Oct. 29, 2008). Yes, superintendents should be allowed to tell their stories to the press. But journalists owe the public a comprehensive and critical analysis of those stories. Unfortunately, the authors appear to have forsaken that caveat.

Furthermore, for them to support New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein in his assertion that he hasn’t been able to tell his story successfully because “other people” have used “very sophisticated media machines” is shameful, not to mention an unexamined acceptance of Mr. Klein’s story. The New York City Department of Education’s public relations office is legendary both for its effectiveness and its size, which Mr. Klein has increased under his tenure. Moreover, the chancellor has attempted to employ intimidation techniques to silence his critics, who include education historian and Education Week blogger Diane Ravitch.

In this hostile atmosphere, principals and teachers will not talk to the press out of fear of reprisal, since those who have been brave enough to do so have been humiliated and threatened.

As we all know, there are at least two sides to every story. For the sake of our schools, I urge education journalists to ignore Ms. Burkhardt and Mr. Colvin’s advice and examine all of them, so that we may truly have “fair, accurate, and insightful coverage.”

Jane Hirschmann

Time Out From Testing

New York, N.Y.

David Bloomfield

To the Editor:

I laughed in disbelief at “Telling the Story of School Reform.” The description of New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein bemoaning a supposedly inadequate communications strategy is ludicrous. The city’s education department has spent millions, and funneled millions more in private dollars, in a ceaseless media campaign to buy public support for its supposed reforms, backed by suspect data that many observers—including Education Week bloggers Jennifer Booher-Jennings ("eduwonkette") and Diane Ravitch—have debunked. It has successfully spun press reports, allegedly spied on opponents (including Ms. Ravitch), and recently killed a negative New York Daily News story, according to reports, by interceding with its publisher after editorial approval.

Please spare us the crocodile tears. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein have brought Orwellian tactics to public discourse over New York City’s schools. If districts are to tell stories of reform, they should be true and responsible to public, rather than political, interests.

David C. Bloomfield

Program Head, Educational Leadership

City University of New York Brooklyn College

Colvin's "Telling the Story of School Reform," is posted at Norms Notes.

Going Beyond Anecdotes

Guest column
Anonymous

This is a Great Blog! Thanks for all the work, it's amazing!!

A few comments from my tiny sector of the universe, along with a question and the suggestion of a research project.

I've been teaching Middle School Mathematics in a district that evidently is among the pioneering leaders in NYC in using "Workshop Model." As far as I can tell the school uses a packaged, commercial version. As interpreted in the school this essentially means that the teachers are mandated to rigidly adhere to formulaic teaching. The formulas are such things as specifically ordered and prominently displayed "Agendas," having student do "Group Work" - i. e. having students sit together in groups of three to six and to do problems together instead of working on problems individually, "Differentiated Instruction" which is to give different students different levels of work, doing work that can be displayed on "Bulletin Boards," etc.

We are given to understand that these things have been going on at this school since Klein became chancellor (or even under his predecessor). Therefore in any case, all the students we now see have been under the Klein administration's organizational structures and models virtually their entire educational lives: the eighth graders since the 2nd grade, the seven graders since the 1st grade, and the sixth graders since kindergarten - indeed their whole educational lives.

I and many of my Mathematics colleagues (newer teachers as much as, if not more than senior teachers) consistently say that they see that classroom performance in Mathematics is horrendous. (Some of the senior teachers say that they are seeing Mathematics performance as clearly worsening over the last decade (kids do the times tables or divide, can't remember procedure, can't solve word problems on their own.)

From conversations with colleagues who teach high school and college it is seems that NYC teachers universally think that Mathematics skill and knowledge is worse than it's ever been across the city. I've heard a CUNY Mathematics professor go so far as to declare that even the best NYC students who apply to major in Mathematics at CUNY are routinely no less than a year their out of town peers despite their high school grades.

Most of us have come to believe that scoring students at a Level 2 is simply the new method of doing social promotion. We heard that in Mathematics the old form of social promotion was straightforward: students were routinely promoted even if they were at a very low percentile (perhaps the 15th?). In any case it seems that the number of poorly performing students passing is great.

As Mathematics teachers we know that as compelling as anecdotal observations and "war stories" are, they in no way constitute any type of proof. So, it would be worthwhile to be able to have some relatively objective "proof" of what we think we are seeing. We have been relying simply on the reports of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for far too long now, which Tweed just denies and / or ignores. Unfortunately, the teachers currently in graduate school are reporting that the local college professors are taking a very fatalistic attitude to educational research as it appears that public schools administrations across the country and not just in NYC are now simply ignoring educational research.

Is anyone aware of a publicly available test akin to the National Assessment of Educational Progress that we can administer to the students? Perhaps, it might be a good idea to organize to do a serious study that would test the veracity of the beliefs we have formed based on our experience.

Class Size Rises While ATRs Fester and Get Fired

So the NYCDOE "overhires" Teaching Fellows, leaving 130 waiting to be fired on Dec. 5 while failing to use $153 million in state funds to reduce class size. In one third of schools receiving class size reduction funds, class sizes actually increased.

And then there is that other batch of tenured ATRs being used as daily subs instead of using them to cut class size. Comptroller Bill Thompson says he will do an audit. But so what? BloomKlein just ignore the law.

From the Class Size Matter website:
http://www.classsizematters.org/reportmisusing153million.html

Joel Klein and Michael Bloomberg Raise Civil Rights to New Heights

NYCDOE Civil rights Agenda Vaporized by Anti-Matter

From Ed Notes News:

The BloomKlein administration has explained the drop in the number of black teacher hires in the BloomKlein years from 27.2% in 2001/02 to 14.1% in 2006/7 (from 1990 - 2002 when Bloomberg took over the city schools, it rose steadily from 16% - 27%) as a new surge in their struggle for civil rights. (See ednotes here and report from the black educator blog.)

"Every black teacher we keep from teaching in the city schools is a victory for civil rights," said a public relations spokesperson for Tweed. "We're protecting them from abusive principals who graduate from the Leadership Academy. How responsible would we be if we let them walk into schools run by these ogres? Thousands of potential black teachers have been saved from cruel and unusual punishment. To not have reduced the black hires in half, it would be like reversing the emancipation proclamation and returning them to slavery. Or at the least, indentured servants, as so many of the teachers have been complaining about."

Klein's buddy John McCain agreed with the principle - keeping Obama out of white house is a civil rights issue of our time. "Did you see what crap G.W Bush looks like after 8 years," said a spokesperson? "We know Black Americans have greater health issues than whites and protecting Obama's health is a civil rights issue."

Bloomklein defend widening of achievement gap
Eduwonkette reported:

"On New York State Tests, A Growing Achievement Gap Between White/Asian and Black/Hispanic New York City Students

The achievement gap in New York City has increased in the last five years, and the decreases in the achievement gap in grade 8 ELA have come at the expense of white and Asian students.

Coupled with my analyses of NAEP achievement gaps - which also showed no progress and in some cases growing gaps - these findings are quite troubling."

"Another victory for civil rights," said Tweed. When asked to explain, the response was, "We run everything and don't have to tell you anything. Go FOIL it."


"What about the fact that NYC schools seem to be more segregated than when you took over the schools," an ENN reporter asked?

"Civil rights, civil right, civil rights. FOIL, FOIL, FOIL," was the response as the phone was slammed down.

Pssst, Kid. Have I got a pre-k school for you

Two articles in today's NY Times touches on the utter incompetency of the BloomKlein regime.
The pre-k debacle and the principals of schools with problems getting bonuses.

Note how the "NO EXCUSES" Joel Klein administration always has, well, excuses. "The dog ate my ARIS." I love the "bad algorithm" one that somehow left out accounting for siblings.

A teacher who might make one mistake is sent immediately to the rubber room. If Tweed had a rubber room, it would be filled and all those cubicles filled with zombies would be empty.

A Victory for Public Education at Julia Richman...

... but the fight is far from over

Does the BloomKlein administration want to destroy the Julia Richman complex, a successful small school model, because it was not created by them? Or precisely because it has such successful community outreach and roots in the community? Why shouldn't Hunter College build its building downtown? Or here's an idea: give them Gracie Mansion. A total white elephant. The mayor doesn't sleep there anyway. And such wonderful views of the East River.

My guess is that Julia Richman just has to wait out the end of BloomKlein but keep agitating and embarrass Hunter College for their land grab as much as possible.

By James Trimarco
From the Indypendent, June 6, 2008

Opponents of a plan that would relocate one of the city's most successful experiments in public education in order to make way for a new Hunter College science center won a victory on May 21 when members of Community Board 8 voted in favor of a resolution opposing the plan.

Supporters of the Julia Richman Education Complex, which houses six small schools that serve 1,850 elementary, middle and high school students in a single 84-year-old building on Manhattan's Upper East Side, leapt to their feet when the results of the vote were announced and chanted "thank you" for nearly a minute.

"I think the board heard the arguments and showed leadership in approving this resolution," said Ann Cook, a co-director at Julia Richman. She has spent two years fighting Hunter's plan to construct a new high-rise science center on Julia Richman's site.

The plan would involve demolishing Julia Richman's building at East 67th Street, building a new complex for its students at a 25th Street location, currently occupied by Hunter's Brookdale Campus, and selling the rest of Brookdale to a private developer in order to raise funds to pay for the science center.

But Julia Richman is fiercely loved by its parents, teachers and students. Since Hunter announced its plans in the spring of 2005, they have organized two demonstrations, hung a 40-foot banner from their building and launched a website and media campaign.

"It's a real community," said Jane Hirschman, a parent of three children who attended Julia Richman. "There are no metal detectors. There's respect for the students. My daughter can leave anything on her desk and it will not disappear."

And it's not only parents who speak out for Julia Richman. New York State Senator Liz Kruger, New York City Council Member Jessica Lappin and New York State Assemblyman Michah Kellner all spoke in support of the resolution at the public session, as well as urban planners, parents and experts in education.

"These are great schools," said Leo Casey, the vice president of the United Federation of Teachers. "They are not instruments that can be picked up and put down miles away."

Julia Richman wasn't always so popular. Founded as an all-girl's school in 1923, it went into decline during the 1970s and in the 1990s was ranked dead last in Manhattan by the Board of Education. So when a progressive education group asked for a place to try out their idea of improving large, dysfunctional schools by breaking them into smaller units, the board picked
Julia Richman.

That experiment seems to be working well. Four small high schools, an elementary school and a middle school for autistic children all share the building's major amenities, including spacious, marble-floored hallways, an auditorium that seats 1,400, two gyms and an elegant swimming pool lit by skylights. The children graduate at rates above the city's average, and
quite a few of them end up at Hunter. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has called Julia Richman a model of what urban public education can be, and in 2007 the American Architectural Foundation presented the complex with the Richard Riley Award, which honors schools that serve as centers of community.

The professors and administrators who spoke on Hunter's behalf at the community board meeting held their ground, however. They emphasized the importance of training new nurses and scientists and the difficulties that would be caused by making them commute between classes.

"I have 432 students I had to turn away because I don't have classrooms for them," said David Steiner, the Dean of Hunter's School of Education. Benjamin Ortiz, a professor of biology, said that a vote against the plan would be a betrayal of "America's scientific workforce" and "a declaration of indifference to Hunter's needs."

Although these arguments failed to convince the members of Community Board 8, it's uncertain precisely what impact the vote will have. Jane Hirschman, who says she supports the new science center as long as it's not at Julia Richman's site, said her next move will be to solicit the support of the Mayor.

But Hunter College officials appear unmoved by the community's resolution. "We are continuing to move forward with our plans," said Meredith Halpern, a Hunter spokesperson, while Marge Feinberg of the Department of Education said she didn't know whether the community board's position would have any effect. "It's still up in the air," she said. "No decision has been made pending the ability of Hunter to build a new school."

How Regressive Ed Reform Robs Neighborhood Schools of Their Base

(Revised)

Education Notes has maintained that the small schools movement and alternative parental choice undermines neighborhood schools by robbing them of their base of students who are succeeding.

To the regressive education reformers, the BloomKlein "reforms" are a wonderful thing. But on the ground in the schools, there is a different view. PS 3, in the heart of Bedford-Stuyvesant, has been viewed as a fairly successful school, with a somewhat middle class base that brings stability.

At a Manhattan Institute breakfast a few months ago starring Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee and others, one of the themes was the "success" of the implementation of charter and small schools.
When some of us talked about the creaming of the top students by these schools, I remember panelist Joe Williams claiming that if kids are successful (those who score 3's and 4's on the tests) in a neighborhood school, why would they move to a charter?

I went up to him afterwards and told him that the kids who are succeeding are the ones that move because their parents are more proactive and are looking for a school without kids who score ones and twos on the tests, special ed, ELA's, discipline problems, high class sizes (even if the actual number looks small on paper the level of difficulty of working with an at-risk population is impacted). In other words, they themselves want to get their kids away from the most at-risk kids, the local form of what used to be called "white flight."

Thus, the neighborhood public schools - from elementary through high school – become drained of the very kids that provide the school a somewhat stable environment by shunting the top students to places like KIPP. And by the way, do not underestimate the positive impact these kids have on teacher morale, which is affected by seeing kids succeed.

If one wanted to design the perfect program to accomplish the destruction of the neighborhood school by shunting higher performing students into a semi-privatized environment BloomKlein and their high-priced consultants have designed such a program.

The latest attacks on elementary schools go after the youngest kids by the modifications in the gifted and talented programs and in the registration process for pre-kindergarten. (We always found that the students whose parents rush to register, turn out to have the highest level of success over the following years.) By moving this registration from the school to some central office one more obstacle is added to the process.

Chapter Leader Lisa North expresses the frustration being felt in the schools as she nails all of these issues in this email to the NYCEducationNews listserve:

My school, PS 3 in Brooklyn, has had 3 pre-k classes for the last 2 years. Parents would come to the school to register. Now they have to go downtown Brooklyn first. Our parents DO NOT do that! At this time we only have enough students for ONE class. Why can't parents register directly in the school?

We are also in danger of losing our "gifted and talented" program – one of the few in Bedford-Stuyvesant, because of the new DOE testing.

On top of that, the charter schools are beginning to take a number of our level 3/4 students (as well as some of the others), but especially students whose families are more involved with their education. The DOE is wreaking havoc with our school!

NYC Principals: Fear and Loathing Tweed

I know someone who visits many schools all over the city and always checks the pulse of the principal to see what they think of BloomKlein. Overwhelmingly they trash Tweed. At which point, they are urged to check out the ednotes blog. Scientific survey? That's pretty good for me. But Leonie Haimson of class size matters and Emily Horowtiz from St. Francis College have turned chatter into data.

One would think the "empowered" principals under Joel Klein and Mayor Bloomberg's administration of the schools would be the happiest people in the school system. After all, the union at the school level has been emasculated, with the help of the UFT. Hundreds of small schools have infiltrated the space of larger schools, resulting in the employment of hundreds of administrators. They have made it so easy to become a principal, especially for people with no educational background (where is the NY State Board of Regents - oh, yes, they also approved Joel Klein.)

But, as I pointed out, word of mouth from sources throughout the school system is that other than the newly cloned Kool-aid drinkers, most principals despise Tweed. Fear has kept them from speaking out publicly, though with BloomKlein about to sunset, more are doing so. Those lame ducks are flying closer to the sun. Just watch the flood when the ducks have issued their final quack, though fear of Bloomberg retaliation may keep some people in line.

One thing is as true as salt. The national press and ed wonk blogging cammunity will ignore this report as much as they have ignored the outcry from teachers and parents about how BloomKlein have turned a dysfunctional system into a catastrophy with failed, self-serving policies and bumbling implementation. At the least, one would have expected some level of competence from the so-called technocrats at Tweed. But they get almost nothing right.

Today's press release from Class Size Matters

Results from a NYC Principal Survey on overcrowding, safety and class size

Today, results were released from a survey of more than one third of all NYC public school principals. The full report, entitled “How Crowded Are Our Schools?” is posted at http://www.classsizematters.org/principalsurveyresults.html

Please reply to this email if you would like a pdf copy.

Fifty-four percent of principals say that the enrollment at their own school is not capped at a level to prevent overcrowding. Fifty percent say that overcrowding sometimes leads to unsafe conditions for students or staff; 43% observe that overcrowding makes it difficult for students and/or staff to get to class on time.

Nearly half (48%) of respondents believe that the official utilization rate of their own schools as reported by the Department of Education is inaccurate; more than half (51%) of principals whose schools are reported as underutilized say that the official rate is incorrect.

Eighty six percent believe that class sizes at their schools are too large to provide a quality education – and that the primary factors that prevent them from reducing class size are a lack of control over enrollment and space.

More than one fourth (26%) of all middle and high school principals say that overcrowding makes it difficult for their students to receive the credits and/or courses needed to graduate on time.

At 25% of schools, art, music or dance rooms have been lost to academic classrooms; 20% of computer rooms have been swallowed up; 18% of science rooms; 14% of reading enrichment rooms, and 10% of libraries have been converted to classroom space.

At 29% of schools, lunch starts at 10:30 AM or earlier; and at 16% of schools, students have no regular access to the school’s library.

18% of principals reported that their schools have classrooms with no windows. Many said that special education classes and services were being given in inadequate spaces, including closets.

Principals also reported ongoing battles with DOE over their schools’ capacity ratings, and expressed resentment at being assigned excessive numbers of students, particularly when they tried to use available funding to reduce class size.

Many observed that the problem of overcrowding has been exacerbated due to DOE policies: 27% said that overcrowding at their schools had resulted from new schools or programs having been moved into their buildings in recent years; and several reported that the decision to add grade levels in order to create more K-8 and 6-12 schools had led to worse conditions.

Emily Horowitz, co-author of the report and professor at St. Francis College says, “The results of this survey should appall every New Yorker with a conscience. Principals report that their schools are seriously overcrowded, with excessive class sizes and insufficient enrichment space, even though the official data continues to show that they have extra room. I hope that the Department of Education pays close attention and revises the way school capacity is calculated - and admits the critical need to build more schools.”

According to Leonie Haimson, co-author and Executive Director of Class Size Matters, “The administration has devolved more responsibility and autonomy to principals, claiming that they have all the tools they need to succeed. Yet principals themselves observe that they have no control over some of the most important factors that determine the quality of education they can provide: the allocation of space and the number of students assigned to their schools. Until and unless the DOE adopts a more aggressive capital plan, the condition of our schools – and the future of NYC schoolchildren --will not significantly improve.”

As Council Member Robert Jackson, Chair of the NYC Education Committee concludes: “We've known for years that official statistics on overcrowding and capacity were wrong but now we have hard data to show just how wrong. It doesn't take a rocket scientist or a multi-million dollar no-bid consulting contract to see that the current capital plan and budget cannot even begin to remedy the conditions described in this survey - facilities that fail to provide the setting for a sound, basic education. In light of this information, we will be looking and listening especially hard to DOE and SCA testimony at tomorrow's budget hearings on the capital plan."

Emily Horowitz, St. Francis College
ehorowitz@aya.yale.edu; 917-674-9791

Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters
classsizematters@gmail.com; 917-435-9329

Corruption in the World of BloomKlein

"Next time someone goes on about the corruption and waste that pervaded the system in the days before Mayoral control, perhaps you might mention one of the examples [below.] - Leonie Haimson

"One day BloomKlein will be taken out with bags over their heads." - ednotes online.

At a recent Manhattan Institute breakfast where Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee were guest speakers, former Daily News reporter Joe Williams, on a follow-up panel, in defending the BloomKlein tenure of NYC schools, talked about how bad the system was in the BBK (before BloomKlein) years. He gave such an inane example, I've forgotten what it was.

Williams now heads Democrats for Education Reform – you know the drill: critics of BloomKlein are entrenched forces opposing changes in the status quo even of these changes are beyond inane. Charters are the answer to everything, preferably charters where there is little union presence.

When it comes to Ed Reform, there is little difference between Republicans and Democrats.

One area Williams never reports on is the much more massive corruption (and incompetence) that has gone on under his BloomKlein heroes.

Leonie Haimson's post below summarizes a piece of it. Note the mention of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, a man with mayoral ambitions. I was a fan of Marty since the days he was a student activist at Brooklyn College. He once came to my building on Ocean Avenue to organize the tenants. But for the last few years I suspected some deal with the mayor. I wrote about Martine Guerrier, Marty's appointee to the Panel for Educational Policy, who received a lot of notoriety for voting NO against 3rd grade retention at the Monday Night Massacre. When BloomKlein gave her a $150,000 position as Parent CEO, there was much bragging about how they took in a "critic" we were pointing out that her criticism died down very quickly the closer Marty grew to Bloomberg. (The NY Times at the time painted her as a persisent critic and when I accused them of sucking up , then ed reporter David Herzenhorn sent me a very nasty email personally attacking me.)

I guess $900,000 goes a long way in Brooklyn.


Leonie's post to the nyceducationnews listserve follows:

See today’s NY Times about the federal indictments of four DOE employees as a result of the bus scandal investigation – accused of soliciting bribes for amounting to at least $1 million, in exchange for giving preferential treatment on safety inspections to companies that provide transportation to thousands of special ed students.

These indictments result from a terrific investigative series of reports last summer by the Daily news– not anything uncovered by DOE itself or by Richard Condon, the school special investigator. See our blog for links to these stories. In fact, the News reporters complained of stonewalling by the DOE in the process of researching the safety problems and abusive behavior on the part of these companies’ drivers.

In addition, today’s NY Post reveals a list of community groups that received money through the Mayor’s “own secret taxpayer-funded cash stash” in the reporter’s words, amounting last year to $4.5 million, which the Mayor used “to reward favored lawmakers” like Councilman Simcha Felder (who got $1.9 million for his favorite community groups), Brooklyn BP Marty Markowitz ($900,000) and others.

Also on the list is Councilman Erik Dilan – who coincidentally or not, along with Felder is one of only four Council members who have refused to sign the resolution opposing budget cuts to schools. The Mayor’s office supplied $60,000 to a community group that happens to be run by Dilan’s wife.Unlike those groups allocated discretionary funds directly from the Council,

“Bloomberg's slush funds were channeled through various city agencies to 45 groups and weren't listed on the document released each year by the council oped in Daily News – suggesting that the recent naming of a Queens campus of public schools by the DOE for Senator Padavan might be considered a form of graft:

The state's Public Officers Law is clear on this: Elected officials cannot receive extra compensation or any gift of more than nominal value. Placing someone's name in a prominent place, whether it's an actual building or a tract of land, has monetary value. ….Naming a school after Padavan appears, at the very least, to violate the spirit of the law, which says that an elected official cannot "solicit, accept or receive any gift having a value of seventy-five dollars or more whether in the form of money, service, loan, travel, entertainment, hospitality, thing or promise, or in any other form ... in the performance of his official duties or was intended as a reward for any official action on his part.

Worse still, according to the chancellor's regulations, "schools may not be named after living persons." The chancellor and others worked around this rule by arguing - get this - that it doesn't apply to a campus. The naming is especially egregious in this case because Republican Sen. Padavan's district is a major battleground in the war over control of the state Senate, which is one seat from a tie and two from flipping to the Democrats.

But perhaps all this pales compared to the unfortunately legal, but incredibly wasteful spending practices of the DOE, which while proposing huge budget cuts to schools also intends to spend nearly $8 million next year on its so-called Accountability office – with only 18 staff members, averaging $432,757 per person!

See this entry by the invaluable blogger, Eduwonkette:

On page 446 of New York City's FY09 budget, we learn that the Division of Assessment and Accountability is budgeted at $8,287,282. $7,789,623 will buy you 18 staff - that's $432,757 per person! What else could you buy for this money, according to Eduwonkette?

A)3,894,812 subway rides
B) 15,579 pairs of Prada heels
C) 1812 hours with the Emperors VIP Club
D) 315 years of education at the Brearley School

I would also add a lot of smaller classes, after school tutoring, and art programs as well.

Next time someone goes on about the corruption and waste that pervaded the system in the days before Mayoral control, perhaps you might mention one of the examples above.

Social Promotion Blahs*

See latest update to this post here.

How does BloomKlein claim they empowered principals but then dictate from above decisions on who gets promoted or not? There are views on both sides on the part of teachers, who generally seem to come down on the side of using promotion as an arrow in their quiver (they have been left with precious few) to get kids who don't do much work to be motivated.

The non-worker is very different from the child who tries and struggles. If a child can't read at all - no skills after even 5 years in school even with the worst teachers then there is a problem like dysleksia. If the child is 2 years behind then there could also be a problem that no amount of holding the child back in yet another class of 25 or 30 kids will help make a difference.

When I found the graphic, it was attached to an interesting article by Alexander Russo on retention in Chicago which goes into the pros and cons and discusses the research – I don't pretend to absorb the implications, but it is worth a look-see at http://www.hoover.org/publications/ednext/3251976.html.

I asked George Schmidt for reactions and will add them to this post.

UPDATE, March 20: Leonie Haimson's response on Chicago is posted here.

Read NYC Educator (Get Tough But Pass Everyone Anyway) here on the 8th grade social promotion farce.

Manhattan borough PEP Rep Patrick Sullivan, the lone dissenting vote commented at the blog:

Like most people, Manhattan BP Scott Stringer and I don't think we should push kids into high school who are not ready. We don't support social promotion. Yet the proposal that Klein put forward for approval had no plan to provide services to the retained kids, let alone deal with the pervasive problems of middle schools. Panel members were asked to put faith in the "forthcoming" plan that DOE is developing to turn around middle schools. The end of the administration struck me as an odd time to start working on a plan.

I've looked closely at all the research on these programs to hold kids back based on test scores and pretty much across the board the research says they don't work. A very comprehensive study in the Chicago school system showed that the retained kids had higher drop out rates, the program overall did not help despite costing hundreds of millions to fund another year of school. We will see somewhere between 5,000 - 18,000 additional kids repeat 8th grade. Tweed has not even thought about where they'll put these kids in middle schools that are already overcrowded.

What we've been saying is to instead find these kids early and provide the remediation instead of waiting for them to fail. DOE has an $80 million dollar student achievement database and the most extensively tested student body in the free world yet they can't figure out which kids need help and give it to them. Instead of paying for another year of school, we should invest in creating middle school environments that are more attractive for both students and teachers - small classes, enrichment programs, real music, art, etc.

There's a lot more from Patrick and Leonie Haimson at the NYC Public School Parent blog.

Read Patrick’s lucid explanation of his vote on the new 8^th grade promotional policy here: 8th Grade Retention Vote at March 17th Panel for Educational Policy

Leonie's (in her words) somewhat less lucid account, including links to news stories, is here

last night at Tweed.

Both are worth reading.


Loretta Prisco, retired teacher and one of ICE founders writes to ICE-mail:

In my school for many years (until a new test-centric principal took all decision-making into her own hands), we made the decision to promote or hold back very carefully - teachers and supervisors and parents too without some self-serving political crap from a mayor or chancellor. And in fact as pointed out at NYC educator schools will cheat to get around the issue so they look better. Social promotion will be stronger than ever.

Retired teacher and one of ICE founders, Loretta Prisco writes on ICE-mail:
What is so amazing is that our current 8th graders were in 2nd grade when Klein took over. They have been the recipients (or should we say victims?) of his policies,curriculum mandates and personnel appointments and yet he takes no accountability for the fact that 8th graders cannot reach level 2.

Are we expected to believe that after 8 or more years of education that have not enabled students to achieve a level 2 on a standardized test, they will be successful in 6 weeks in summer school. Achieve in 6 weeks what couldn't be done in 8 years? Why not just cancel school and have them spend a few weeks in summer school? Throw in some Saturday sessions to guarantee success.

It is interesting to note that 5 of the 6 identified SURR schools were middle schools this year. Holding back 8th graders will definitively challenge middle schools even more - a challenge they will not be able to overcome. Are we looking at systematic closing of middle schools as we have seen in the high schools? A cause for more charters?

Middle schools can work. Classes of no more than 20, true advisor-advisee sessions, guidance support, good attendance improvement programs, a full gym program, intensive English classes for our ELL population, a full visual and performing arts program, health programs offered on site, professional development on working with the adolescent, teachers teaching within their license area, and providing the mandated services that our special ed. population deserves.

And we should be sending on 5th graders prepared for middle school. That begins with a substantial foundation in the early childhood grades. A full comprehensive program, low class size and further reduced for those who need more attention, intervention with struggling learners in kindergarten, before failure takes its ugly toll.

Jamaica High School Horror

Hey, all you Bloom/Kleinites out there. Run, do not walk, over to the ICE blog and read the letter from the teachers at Jamaica High School about the horror being perpetrated by the policies of Tweed.

How about 39 in an honors economics class while 2 social studies teaches are prevented from being used to reduce class size because they have been excessed and are ATR's? Oh, and the Tweedles are busy making sure things will go well for the new Bill Gates school being placed in the building. Is there a better examples of how Bloomberg and Klein have destroyed the schools and messed with the lives of so many students?

We used to joke about the Children Last policies of Tweed. But the word "last" doesn't do justice. If I were religious I would say that one day some of these people will rot in hell.

Maybe Eduwonk/Rotherham should reconsider bestowing the Broad Prize on BloomKlein. But I'm sure he'll find a way to rationalize these policies – ye ole apologist for the status quo.

And I don't even have words for our cozy union which has stood by (oh, watch Randi's words of outrage spew forth) while this catastrophe has been visited on school after school. You see, if we didn't agree to allow this ATR outrage and defended the contract (YES, boys, the contract may protect teachers but kids get protected too) things would not have been quite so easy for the DOE.

Nailing BloomKlein's Ass to the Wall

Leonie Haimson posted this on her nyceducationnews listserve yesterday (Friday). Read her and her band of merry men (and women) on the NYC Public School Parent blog.

Andy Wolf wrote a good column [Friday] on how the students accepted at the small schools compared to the large are very different, putting in question the administration’s claims of improving graduation rates by closing down the large schools and replacing them with small ones. He credits these findings to a recent Eduwonkette column and an earlier one on the UFT blog by Leo Casey from March 2007 here. Both were good analyses, and it’s good that this issue is finally receiving the attention it deserves, but it is long overdue.

Leonie points to some background material she has posted in the past:

In November 2005 I presented [a report] to the PEP and the UPA here: http://www.classsizematters.org/smallschoolsreport.html

Many of my observations were based on a report by Policy Studies Associates completed in March 2005, suppressed for many months by New Visions, and then leaked to the NY Times in Nov. 2005 – which had many of the same findings and facts and more, based upon background student data gotten directly from DOE.

The PSA report examined not just the new schools placed in Evander but throughout the Bronx. It also showed how the creation of the small schools had led to worse conditions and more overcrowding for all those students left behind in the large schools.

Here is an excerpt of the summary that I presented in Nov. 2005: http://www.classsizematters.org/smallschoolsreport.html

“By gaining access to student records, the analysis substantiates what DOE officials have long denied – that these schools recruit students with better scores, attendance, and overall records than the population from which they are drawn. See for example the recent NYC Partnership report -- which misleadingly compares NCHS students to the average student citywide.

As the Policy Studies report points out, "These citywide comparisons are of only limited usefulness, since [this] initiative is intended to improve education opportunities and outcomes for students who might otherwise attend some of the city's most troubled high schools." Thus their evaluation properly compares the earlier records of students at the new small schools to those attending neighboring or host comprehensive high schools.

The students at the small schools had eighth grade math and reading scores significantly higher than their peers in the comparison schools; and 97% of them had been promoted in the prior year, compared with only 59% of the students at the comparison schools. They had better attendance records (91% compared to 81%), and were less likely to have been suspended. They were much less likely to need special education services. Only six percent of Bronx NCHS students had IEPs, compared with 25% at the comparison schools; and none of the NCHS special education students had the most serious disabilities.

Indeed, teachers at the new small schools praised their principals for "recruiting more high-performing students".

I also pointed out that these schools did appear to be doing a better job keeping their students engaged – something ignored by the recent exposes – but not because of the small size of the schools, but primarily because of their smaller classes:

While the students attending small schools maintained their previously good attendance, even the subset of students who previously had good attendance who enrolled at the larger high schools experienced a 10% drop in attendance in 9th grade. And while 6% of NCHS students transferred schools, and 10% were discharged from the system entirely, the transfer rate among incoming students at the larger schools was 14% and the discharge rate was 20% -- showing that more than a third of these students departed from the larger schools each year. …

Why were the new small schools more successful at keeping their students engaged? Students reported that their teachers were able to know them well, give them individualized instruction and help, and provide lots of attention in and out of class. As one pointed out, "the teachers I have had at other schools never knew me." While class sizes at the larger high schools average 30 students or more, class sizes at most of the new small schools were between 13 and 20 students, as pointed out by the first year evaluation. 9 The fact that these schools provided much smaller classes was noted by students themselves in surveys as their most valuable quality.10 As a result, “Teachers listen to you and get your opinion.” “In a normal high school, they don’t talk to you when you have a problem. They don’t care.” Another student said, “Slipping through the cracks? Not at this school!” Indeed, without smaller classes it's hard to see how these schools could succeed in their mission at all. …

And what about the majority of New York City students, who will continue to attend our larger high schools?

In the recent New Visions interim report, there is a timeline in which by 2010, "innovative educational methods from NYC's small high schools" are supposed to "improve teaching and learning at the city's traditional high schools." 12 This is critical, since even if its ambitious goal is achieved of 200 new smaller schools, fully two thirds of NYC students will continue to attend larger high schools.

As the class size in the small schools appear to be their most successful elements, without a plan to eventually provide smaller classes and more individualized instruction to all high school students, it is difficult to see how this will ever occur. “

My more recent City Council testimony is here Feb. 16 2007 here, with updated info on how the new small schools not only exclude our neediest students, but also provide them w/ smaller classes -- and how the city has no plan to deal w/ the increasing inequities of the system it has created.